City Hall frequently asked questions

Sunshine Coast City Hall has set a new benchmark in innovation and sustainability for commercial developments, not just locally but also state-wide and nationally.

The building reinforces the shared vision to create a first-of-its-kind regional civic, business and commercial heart in the centre of Maroochydore – the Sunshine Coast’s Principal Regional Activity Centre.

The building is among the earliest projects to be delivered in the Maroochydore City Centre and the advice from other investors in this location is that Council’s commitment via this building has encouraged them to invest in Maroochydore. 

Sunshine Coast City Hall also helps to improve Council’s accessibility and ability to serve our rapidly growing community given the centrality of its location in the region and the aggregation of a number of services in one place.

City Hall has also enabled the creation of more community-facing facilities and spaces through the repurposing of the Caloundra administration building (works under construction) and Nambour administration buildings (options and designs in progress), greatly adding to the region’s community facilities network.

Council’s primary purpose is to serve the people of the Sunshine Coast and work with our community. With our rapidly growing population, it is important to plan how we will position our services for the future.

Our property assets are ageing, and some require significant investment to keep them up to a compliant standard and to align with council's vision for sustainability.  Council strategically considered the property footprint needs for now and the future as part of its commitment to create City Hall that would be well placed to respond to community service needs and priorities for decades to come.

What do the changes mean for our community/region?

In planning council’s future workplaces, we considered how our services, our people and our assets could be best placed in the shared interests of our community and organisation.

Maroochydore: 

The new Sunshine Coast City Hall building provides for a consolidation of a vast number of council staff and teams, enhancing efficiencies, collaboration and service delivery.  As part of this transformation, we have dedicated efforts to creating inclusive community and business venues. Altitude Nine, located on Level 9 of the new City Hall building exemplifies this commitment, providing a versatile space for hire for our community. Additionally, we are actively enhancing the ground floor of the building with the development of the Community Co-Lab space, fostering collaboration and innovation within our community.

Caloundra: 

We are repurposing the Caloundra administration building into an integrated community facility with district library and community meeting spaces, to activate Caloundra as the community and creative hub for the region. The facility will also provide on-going administration spaces and a customer service centre. Works to repurpose the administration building started in November 2023 and are expected to be completed in 2025.

Nambour: 

Council recognises the importance of Nambour as one of the region’s key service centres and the work being done with our design partners will help ensure our future utilisation of our key council buildings is in the best interests of the Nambour and Hinterland communities. We anticipate that we will see refurbishments including an enhanced modern library, community meeting spaces, heritage and arts hub along with retaining council administration spaces and customer service centre. The upgrade and refurbishment of the administration building is planned to be delivered in the coming years.

The total cost of delivering the City Hall building is forecast at $97,967,523, approximately $2 million less than the budget allocated by council.

The total cost includes the building construction, fit-out, furniture and equipment costs. This also includes the creation of community and business venue spaces with the completed Altitude 9 on Level 9, which is available for hire by our community, and fit-out of the Community CoLab space on the ground floor, which is now in progress.

Sunshine Coast City Hall was solely financed by council. Much of the construction costs were secured through a max price guaranteed contract ahead of the Covid-induced materials and supply cost increases that have occurred on all infrastructure projects in recent years.

The City Hall building is a prudent investment by council, noting that the building would cost considerably more to build if undertaken today.

The 10-storey City Hall building features commercial and community spaces, venue hire for community groups and businesses, large, open workspaces as well as communal facilities, Council’s chambers, end-of-trip facilities and green areas.

The Sunshine Coast City Hall building features a fully automated building management system that helps optimise utilisation while reducing energy and water consumption, as well as water recycling through collection and reuse.

Council is targeting a number of environmental performance ratings achieving 5 Star Green Star Design and As-built and tracking for achieving NABERS ratings.

Designed by Cottee Parker Architects, with sustainability at its core design response, the new building, which opened in December 2022, includes features that will reduce environmental impact and embrace the Sunshine Coast climate.

The building is intended to fit seamlessly into its built and natural environment and distinguishes itself as a landmark building in the new City Centre.

The building is inspired by the forms and colours of the unique Sunshine Coast Glass House Mountains. The mountain and water themes flow from the exterior inwards to deliver a holistic and integrated experiential journey for residents, visitors and staff.

The building has been honoured with numerous prestigious awards:

• Project of the Year – Qld Master Builders Award
• Projects over $20 million - IPWEA-QNT Excellence Awards
• Social and Community Infrastructure - UDIA Qld Awards for Excellence